Frequently Asked Questions
Please see below for a list of our most frequently asked questions. If you don't find your query answered below, please contact us, and we'll do all we can to help.
If you're in a hurry, and want to see all the answers, click here.
1. What is Factary Phi? show the answer
1. It’s a database of donations and donors to UK nonprofits, all of them reported in the public domain.
2. How is it researched? show the answer
We gather information from websites, accounts and other public domain sources. The information is edited and checked by Factary researchers.
3. Is it all in the public domain? show the answer
Yes. For every record we show the website or document from which the data comes.
4. What does it contain? show the answer
- It’s a database of donations and donors to UK nonprofits, all of them reported in the public domain.
- “Nonprofits” includes charities, universities, museums and arts organisations, as well as political parties.
- The database includes the donor’s name, the recipient organisation’s name, charity registration number and postcode, the recipient organisation’s type (for example – “Education” or “Development”) and, for some records the donation value or donation band (for example “£5,000-£10,000.”).
- The database includes the names of trustees and patrons of leading UK nonprofits.
- We include, for some records, notes on the donation.
- For every record we show the website or document from which the data comes.
- The database is fully searchable on any of these fields, and any combination of these fields. Users can search by name or partial name, for example, or put together a search combining recipient type (“Development”) with amount (“More than £10,000”).
- Search results can be exported, instantly, into an Excel file.
5. How can I search Factary Phi? show the answer
- The database is fully searchable on any field, and any combination of these fields. Users can search by name or partial name, for example, or put together a search combining recipient type (“Development”) with amount (“More than £10,000”).
- The search engine allows searches on a full name, or on partial name. In the Quick Search box, click on “Name” in the drop down box and enter all or part of the name of the person you are searching for. (For example, to find donors whose surname is Smith or Smithkins or Smithson or Blacksmith, search for “smith”.).
- Search results can be exported, instantly, into an Excel file.
6. How will Factary Phi help my fundraising or development programme? show the answer
- Find donations by cause:
- You can search on any cause, or “Type” of charitable activity. So, for example, a search on “environment” will find all the donations in Factary Phi that have been made to environmental organisations.
- Remember that you can instantly export your search results into an Excel file. Just click on “Export Results”.
- Find donations to a specific charity:
- In the Quick Search box, click on “Recipient” in the drop down list and enter the name of the charity, or any part of its name. Click Search.
- If you know the charity’s registration number, chose the Advanced Search page, put the charity’s registration number into the “Charity Commission Number” search box and click on “Search” at the bottom of the page.
- Build lists of prospects who support a particular type of cause:
- In the Quick Search box, click on “Type” in the drop down list and enter the type of cause (for example “environment” or “cancer” or “development”). Click Search.
- Build lists of prospects who have given to nonprofits in a defined geographic area:
- In the Advanced Search page, chose the “Left Postcode” search box. Enter the first two letters of the postcode for the geographic area that interests you. For example, “EH” will find all the recipient organisations in Edinburgh.
- Note that the search is for the recipient organisation, not the donor.
- Check your donor’s other philanthropic interests:
- You have a supporter or donor and want to find out her other donations and affiliations.
- In the Quick Search box, click on “Name” in the drop down box and enter your supporter’s name. Click Search.
- Or, in the Advanced Search box, enter your supporter’s surname in the Surname search box and click Search.
- Check your strategy:
- Your organisation is planning a new appeal in, for example, the field of animal welfare. Which other organisations have had notable gifts in this field? How much are donors giving? Who are our competitors? Who are the prospects?
- By using combinations of Advanced Search options you can see who’s giving to what, when and where.
- You can export the results, instantly, to Excel for further analysis.
- Bear in mind that Factary Phi ONLY reports on donations known in the public domain. It is not, and cannot be, a listing of all donations to all causes.
7. Can I download information? show the answer
Yes. It’s fast and easy.
- Just carry out a search, then click on the “Export” button in the menu choices about half way down the page.
- Your search results will be instantly exported to an Excel file. Save the file in your desktop or folders in the normal way.
Please don’t be tempted to try to download the whole database. We know you won’t – it would not be fair. But just to make sure we’ve imposed a limit on the export facility.
8. How many records are there in Factary Phi? show the answer
There are currently just over 140,000 donations, all drawn from public domain sources, listed in Factary Phi. This number increases continually, as our research continues.
There are approximately £6 billion in donations recorded in Factary Phi. Again, this number increases with our continued active research programme.
9. Can anyone subscribe to Factary Phi? show the answer
Any nonprofit organisation in the EU can subscribe to Factary Phi.
Special conditions apply to freelances, consultants and other commercial users of Factary Phi. For details, contact peter@factary.com.
Special conditions apply to organisations outside the EU. For details, contact peter@factary.com.
10. What do I get for my annual subscription? show the answer
- Unlimited access to the database, 24/7.
- Unlimited searches in the database.
- Fully searchable fields – text and numbers.
- Instant, free, download of information into an Excel file.
- ...and a monthly newsletter on substantial donations in the UK.
11. How much is a subscription? show the answer
- For nonprofit organisations in the EU, annual subscription to Factary Phi is £500+VAT.
- Special conditions apply to freelances, consultants and other commercial users of Factary Phi. For details, contact peter@factary.com.
- Special conditions apply to organisations outside the EU. For details, contact peter@factary.com.
12. How do I subscribe? show the answer
13. What are the Terms and Conditions show the answer
Factary’s standard Terms and Conditions apply. The “Specification” referred to in the Terms and Conditions is as follows:
“Access, for one user, for one year from receipt of payment, to the Factary Phi database, for the purpose of promoting philanthropy by researching donations to UK nonprofits. No part of the database may be used for any other purpose, nor may any part of the database be sold, leased or loaned on to third parties.”
14. I have a concern about this data! show the answer
If you have any queries or concerns about our data please contact Marc Low, Data Systems Consultant at Factary, marc@factary.com.
15. Can I use this data for commercial purposes? Or to make a mailing list? show the answer
No. Special terms and conditions apply to Factary Phi to ensure that we comply with the spirit and the laws of data protection. You will have signed these terms when you signed up for Factary Phi.
16. Where is the data held? show the answer
Our data is held on a secure, encrypted server in the UK.
17. Who’s in charge? show the answer
Do call us or email us if you have any queries about any aspect of Factary Phi.
- For queries about data and searches, contact Marc Low, marc@factary.com.
- For queries about subscriptions and other Factary services contact Peter Wilgoss, peter@factary.com.
- For other queries about Factary contact Chris Carnie, Director of Factary, chris@factary.com.
18. When did Factary start planning this? show the answer
We started planning Factary Phi in July 2002, calling it “Who Gives to Whom.” The ideas evolved and we started testing and gathering data in 2007 under the codename “Project Hugh.” As in “Hugh Grant”. As in “Grants database.” This proves (a) we have a sense of humour and (b) all good ideas take a while to get right.
19. Why did Factary put this database together? show the answer
- Prospect researchers in the UK have been asking us for something like this for a long time.
- Prospect researchers and fundraisers have searched through lists of donors to other, “competitor”, organisations, since fundraising began. We knew we could help charities save time and money by compiling this public domain information into a central database.